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I’m sure the madness and wickedness of this world has peaked in the minds of many of my brethren this week as they heard of the deplorable murder of a dear brother in Christ.  Jim Shaw was 73 and while I never personally met him, I have heard his name come up on several occasions and know he was/is well loved by his brethren and was a diligent worker for the Kingdom.  I also know assuredly that such a violent death was not owed him. 

What sense does it make that the person who robbed him had to kill him?  Surely if they could overpower him to take his life, they could have easily overpowered him and restrained him instead, leaving him hurt and frightened, surely, but leaving him alive… and yet the attacker made the choice to take another man’s life, altering the lives of many, shattering our feeling of safety, perhaps shaking our faith a little too?  Or a lot, even…

If you are trying to puzzle out what sense this makes and what part it plays in God’s plan, I have some advice for you.  Don’t.  There is a mistaken belief out there that every little thing that happens is part of God’s plan and I for one do not buy it.   Read on –>

What sort of God writes into His plan the death of a faithful old saint in such a horrific manner?  How can we call it God’s will when a child is struck and killed by a drunk driver or a father is taken by cancer leaving his family broke, broken and providerless…  I must tell you folks, If my father, mother, grandpa, etc, had been killed in such a way when I was young and I was told that, “Its all part of God’s plan” (as is often heard in an attempt to comfort the grieving) this would not kindle within my soul a love for God but would make me bitter towards such a barbaric deity.  Even as an adult, if the bible told me that such things where God’s doing, I would be hard-pressed to overcome the feelings of repulsion… but luckily, I don’t have to.

When our lives are shaken by the chaos and disorder of the evil that pervades this world, we need to know that this is not God exercising revenge upon us for some sin we have comitted and it is not God simply throwing rocks at us because He can.  This all boils down to an age old question that pops into our minds often as we go through this world.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  The reason that this is an age old question is because it is a very hard one to answer.  But I believe the answer (or as close to an answer as we can get with our human minds) lies within the poetic language of the book of Job.

In the book of Job, I believe we have a representation of ourselves.  I am Job.  I battle to make life good for myself and my family, I zealously persue righteousness… and yet very often, bad things happen to me and I have to be honest with you… it really makes me mad.  Job found a disturbing attitude lurking within himself when tragedy came his way.  It was the attitude of, “God! I know you’re up there enjoying this aren’t you!  You’re just a big ol’ bully underneath it all!”  (See Job 9:11-12) You are Job too, perhaps…

Or maybe you are one of the misguided souls.  Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.  Great friends… until they open their mouths.  They are good intentioned and believe themselves to be righteous (in fact, they believe themselves more righteous than Job because he is being punished and they are not… and we often have this feeling ourselves, no matter how misguided… perhaps one of my readers of higher intellect than I will be able to recall the name of the psychological phenomenon where you have a feeling of elation in the wake of someone elses tragedy because it happened to them and not to you…) but they are just plain wrong and in their attempt to comfort and bring understanding to Job, they instead run him over with a Mack truck (figuratively of course), much like those at the bedside of a victim of some terrible circumstance who tries to comfort them by saying ‘it must be part of God’s plan.’  “If so,” the injured one ought to be thinking, “I don’t want to be part of His plan anymore.”

Or maybe you are Elihu.  If you are, know that I thank God for people like you.  Elihu who could see the bigger picture.  Elihu condemns the speech of both Job and the three friends and asks if they truly waited for God to speak or did they just jump in and ‘multiply words’ against God without knowledge? He implies that even if it were true that Job was righteous and did not deserve this suffering, that he has now become a sinner in putting his righteousness above God’s own and calling God unjust. (Do we compound our sin in trials instead of looking for God to comfort and strengthen us?)

Or a darker allusion… Perhaps you are Leviathan.  An untameable beast that wields destruction, chaos, and disorder as its weapons of choice.  The man who attacked Jim Shaw was part of Leviathan, ripping through the fabric of decency and order put in place by God, and choosing instead to work evil, are you part of the problem?  Leviathan is not an easy beast to control… even for a powerful and loving God who is attempting to thwart Leviathan and work every thing out to the good of His children (Rom. 8:28)

God makes up the last cast member in the book of Job and the things he has to say are well worth making note of and doing a little deep thinking on.  I know, I know… deep thinking is not my strong suit… but I’m going to attempt it… another day… in another post.

Until then, know that God loves decency and order, and has no love for the madness of this world, a world that looks less and less attractive each day to those who love Him and know of the place He has prepared for us.

Love and prayers to the Shaw family, and other victims of the evil in this world,

Posted in JW's thoughts, Its a Series |